After Noach left the teivah, Hashem promised that He would never destroy the world again. The passuk says: “Yom v’laila lo yishboso” – “Day and night the world will not rest.” This means that the world will not fall apart or be destroyed. Chazal teach us that there is a deeper message, and that’s a message to the “world”, meaning the nations of the world: “Lo yishboso, do not rest.” There is a special obligation on the nations of the world to specifically not keep Shabbos.
Besides being interesting that one nation should be required to rest and others required not to rest, this prohibition seems somewhat strange. We rest on Shabbos as a way of remembering that Hashem created the world (and rested on the seventh day). The importance of remembering that there is a Creator who is the origin of all things is not only a Jewish requirement! The first of the seven Noahide laws is to believe in Hashem, the Creator of the world. So shouldn’t the nations of the world also be required to keep Shabbos? Why are they not only not required to keep Shabbos, but they are even prohibited from doing so?
The Zohar describes Shabbos as Mekora D’Kula, the source of everything. The Ohr Hachaim says that the life-energy that Hashem invests into the world is only enough to last for 6 days, after which that energy is depleted. Shabbos is the source of the existence and vitality for the following weekdays, giving the world its life and vitality which will take it to the next Shabbos. How does this work?
Imagine you are walking in the forest and come across a spring. The spring starts off strong but after a while, it begins to lose the intensity of its flow, and the stream of water diminishes and slows to a trickle. How would you reinvigorate this spring? The problem would be caused by some sort of blockage in the source of the water, like rocks or sediment, and so the way to resolve that would be to dig deeper, to reveal the source of the water. There is no shortage of water from the source – it’s just a matter of unearthing the source and removing the blockages.
What is the quality of Shabbos that causes it to bring energy and vitality into the world to power the week? The answer is that just like we bring forth more water to the spring by unearthing and reconnecting the source of the water, Shabbos is about clarifying, activating, and reintroducing the source of all life and energy – Hashem! Doing this brings forth an increase in energy, vitality and productivity, so much so that it carries over for the coming week. The cause of this is the inner dimension of Shabbos which is a reconnection to the very root of creation, which is G-d himself.
In truth, the entire world connects to Shabbos. The non-Jewish world connects to the effect of Shabbos, which is the increase in vitality, energy, and productivity. The way to connect to this would be to specifically not rest! Yom v’laila lo yishboso – day and night the (nations of the) world shall not rest.
The Jewish people are connected not only to the more external aspect of what’s happening on Shabbos, but rather to why there is an increase in the flow of the spring, which is because the root/source of the spring is being unearthed and reconnected to the system. This is why the Jewish people are commanded to specifically not work on Shabbos and to focus on reconnecting with our Creator.
The entire world is partnering to complete what needs to be done on Shabbos. The Jewish people are unearthing the root, and the other nations of the world are connecting to the flow of water that comes from that root. This is another reason that Shabbos has a similarity to the future era of Moshiach, when the entire world will be redeemed and become part of serving Hashem. There will still be a big difference between the way the Jewish people connect to serve God versus the rest of the world, but ultimately we will all partner together to serve and connect to the Creator. Because Shabbos is a reflection of that time period, we see Shabbos reflecting the concept of the entire world partnering together to serve Hashem. Whether we realize it or not, the Jewish people connect to the cause, while the non-Jewish world connects to the effect, of Shabbos.
In the merit of keeping Shabbos, we should merit to see that day when Moshiach comes and the whole world will be reintroduced to the truth and the light of Moshiach. May we see that with our own eyes b’vias go’el tzeddek, bimhaira b’iyamainu, Amen!
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 7.
